Contributed material to over 50 national magazines and newspapers including The New York Times, Chicago Sun Times, Time Magazine, GQ, Self, Fitness, etc.

MA: Psychology and Counseling; PhD: Nutrition

GUEST

Jonny Bowden: The Healthiest Foods on Earth

CBN.com
 Jonny is a popular speaker and has offered inspiring advice on weight, health and nutrition to millions of people on iVillage.com and on America Online. He is passionate about debunking traditional and conventional information on health, weight loss and nutrition. He says that Americans try to define the perfect diet in terms of protein, carbs and fat. “The actual quality of the food we eat is probably way more important for our health than the proportions of fats, carbs and proteins,” says Jonny.

When he decided to put together a book on foods we should be eating, Jonny asked some of the top experts in the nutrition field including Dr. Stephen Sinatra (cardiovascular disease physician), Dr. Barry Sears (biochemist and author of Omega Zone Diet), Jeff Volek (Men’s Health columnist), etc., for their list of Top 10 foods they ate, not just the ones they thought were healthiest. Clear winners include all vegetables. “There are no bad vegetables or fruit,” says Jonny. (This doesn’t include ketchup, iceberg lettuce or French fries.)

Surprisingly, grains did not make Jonny’s top 150 best foods. He believes that cereal grains are not nearly as healthy nor as nutritionally complete as foods that can be hunted, fished for, gathered or plucked. While Jonny doesn’t believe grains should be eliminated completely, he says that we should ingest them moderately (Oatmeal and quinoa made the list with brown rice a runner up.) Beans and legumes weren’t a slam dunk either. Beans are loaded with fiber, protein and phytochemicals, but they also contain lectins, which are substances that may be partly to blame for rheumatoid arthritis and other autoimmune diseases. He says if you are part of the small group of people who have unexplained symptoms, it might be worthwhile to avoid beans (Garbanzo beans, lentils and legumes made the cut.) Nuts and nut butters are full of good fats and have powerful health benefits.

Jonny is also not a fan of soy though edamame made the list. Dairy (homogenized milk products) did not get rave reviews but Jonny believes raw, organic milk is one of the healthiest foods on the planet. Free range or organic is always the way to go with poultry and eggs; grass-feed beef.